User:JustinePorto/Public toilets in Gabon

Public toilets in Gabon are rare. Gabon itself has some of the lowest sanitation coverage in Africa. In 2020, management of some services were switched from the national government to municipalities, with some places building public toilets as a result.

Public toilets
A French speaking country, the local words for toilets include toilettes and WC, while the local word for toilet paper is Papier toilette, the word for men's toilet is hommes and the word for women's toilet is femmes.

There are few to no public toilets in most major cities. Where public toilets do exist, they often lack running water and are not very clean.

In 2000, the countries with the lowest sanitation coverage in Africa were Ethiopia, Eritrea, Benin, Congo, Gabon and Niger. Waste management and other services in Gabon was decentralized in 2020, with responsibility for it and things like public toilets falling to local municipalities. As a result, Libreville planned to construct ten new public toilets in each district.

Regional and global situation impacting public toilets in Gabon
Public toilet access around the world is most acute in the Global South, with around 3.6 billion people, 40% of the world's total population, lacking access to any toilet facilities. 2.3 people in the the Global South do not have toilet facilities in their residence. Despite the fact that the United Nation made a declaration in 2010 that clean water and sanitation is a human right, little has been done in many places towards addressing this on a wider level.

In developing countries, girls are less likely to attend school once they hit puberty if their school does not have adequate hygiene facilities.

Flush toilets are often only found in affluent areas of developing countries.